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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28475457">Behind the Glass</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/ammstar11/pseuds/ammstar11'>ammstar11</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Mortal, Kidnapping, M/M, Magic is Real, Trapped</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-01-01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-01-01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 14:41:21</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,684</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28475457</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/ammstar11/pseuds/ammstar11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Nico is trapped within a bottle on a model ship by a mysterious man. Years go by and he begins to lose hope of ever getting out but then Will find the bottle and though Nico can't talk to him he can still talk to Nico and he promises to free him. Will spends his whole summer talking to the boy in the bottle until one day it's stolen and Will thinks he'll never see him again.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Nico di Angelo &amp; Will Solace, Nico di Angelo/Will Solace</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Behind the Glass</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Years ago when Nico was a small child, a mysterious man approaches him and asks him if he likes boats and pirates when he sees him reading a book about pirates and Nico smiles and nods excitedly. The man tells him that he knows where a real pirate ship is and asks if Nico wants to see it. Nico agrees and goes with the man and when the man tells Nico that he can go aboard Nico rushes up the plank but then something happens and the next thing Nico know his world has become much smaller.</p><p>…</p><p>Decades go by and Will Solace is at his uncle’s house and exploring the attic because there’s nothing else to do. He starts rummaging through boxes until he finds what looks like an old chest so he opens it and finds things like shells and other trinkets one would relate to the sea.</p><p>Will is mildly curious about them but what grabs his attention is a glass bottle with a model ship inside. It looks so life like as if it could really sail the seas even as small as it is. The longer Will stares at it the more transfixed he becomes because he starts to see something moving inside, no it’s <em>someone</em>.</p><p>Will gently places the bottle on top of the closed chest and rushes back to a box he had looked in earlier to grab the magnifying glass that was there, then he rushes back to the bottle and sure enough there’s a person on the deck. As he looks closer he sees that it’s a boy about his age, his heart starts to race as he wonders if this is magic.</p><p>“Hello there.” Will says excitedly and smiles even more when the boy looks at him. Did he really hear him?</p><p>“You’re real right?” Will asked and the boy nodded.</p><p>Will didn’t understand how this was possible but it must mean that magic was real right?</p><p>“My name’s Will, what’s yours?” he asked but the boy just looked down sadly and shook his head.</p><p>Will’s brow furrowed as he wondered what was wrong.</p><p>“You don’t have a name?”</p><p>The boy shook his head while motioning with his arms that that was wrong.</p><p>“You can’t speak?” Will asked and the boy looked like he was talking and gestured to his mouth then pointed at the glass around him and Will began to understand. “You can hear me but I can’t hear you.”</p><p>The boy nodded and sat down on the deck and looked at Will.</p><p>“Are you a fairy? In a game I play you put fairies in bottles.” He asked as he tried to guess what the boy could be but the boy shook his head again; Will was a little sad that he wasn’t a real fairy but still wanted to know how he had gotten in the bottle.</p><p>“Are you a genie or a djinn? I’ve read about them, they are magical people that live inside bottles and lamps and things.” Will said but again the boy shook his head and then sat down and pulled his knees up to his chest and rested his chin on them.</p><p>“Are you like those little people that live in houses that are the size of dolls?” Will asked trying to think of any other creature he’s read about or seen in movies or games that might explain this boy but again the boy shook his head.</p><p>Will felt kind of sad looking at him and seeing him trapped this way.</p><p>“Are you a regular boy like me?”</p><p>This time the boy nodded sadly and Will felt really bad for him but also wondered how a regular boy could be put into a bottle with a tiny ship.</p><p>“Did someone do this to you?” Will asked and the boy nodded.</p><p>
  <em>But who would do something like this and why?</em>
</p><p>“How long have you been in there?” Will asked and the boy seemed to think about it and held his hands out wide.</p><p>“A really long time?” Will asked and the boy nodded again letting him know that he was right.</p><p>“Can you get out?” Will asked and the boy looked around as if he hated seeing everything around him and then back at Will and shook his head yet again.</p><p>“Do you think I could get you out?” Will asked; he really wanted to help this boy.</p><p>The boy looked at him for a while but then looked away, Will wondered if he thought that it was impossible, but that just made Will want to try even more.</p><p>“Don’t worry, I’ll find a way to help you. I promise!” he said with the best reassuring smile he could muster but the boy didn’t seem convinced.</p><p>“Really, no matter how long it takes I’ll find a way to get you out of there and back to normal!”</p><p>The boy stared at him but nodded slightly and Will smiled again. He was determined to find some way to get the boy out of the bottle even if he had to learn magic himself, he would get him out.</p><p>…</p><p>Will raced downstairs to tell his uncle about the things he had found in the attic.</p><p>“I found this cool chest with seashells and other things inside and there was this bottle with a boat inside! I think it’s magic!” Will said really excitedly when he ran into his uncle’s study.</p><p>His uncle chuckled and chalked it up to the imagination of a young child.</p><p>“Oh Will, it’s just a model. You can get them at the hobby shops down by the pier, though I don’t know if they have any quite like that one, it’s an antique. I got that chest at an old shop years ago but haven’t brought it out for quite some time.”</p><p>Will didn’t care about the models at the gift shop, he knew this one was really magic and he wanted to know more about it but knew his uncle wouldn’t believe him about the little boy trapped inside. Adults were weird like that.</p><p>“Can we bring it out now? I want to be able to see it while I’m here visiting; I promise I won’t break it!” Will tried to look as sincere as possible because he wanted his uncle to let him bring the little boy out of the attic and to somewhere where he could see and talk to him every day.</p><p>His uncle seemed to think it over for a minute or so but finally agreed.</p><p>“Alright, I don’t see the harm in bringing it down. And we could redecorate the living room with the knickknacks from the chest as well.”</p><p>Will smiled and nodded, he’d redecorate the whole house if that’s what it took.</p><p>“I’ll help!”</p><p>…</p><p>Later that evening Will sat by the bookcase that his uncle had placed the bottle on and pretended that he was practicing reading out loud as he lay with the bottle in front of him and read stories to the boy inside.</p><p>The boy in the bottle sat in the crow’s nest at the top of the main mast and happily listened to Will read to him.</p><p>This became a regular thing for Will while he stayed at his uncle’s house that summer. Every day he would look through the mountains of books his uncle had collected over the years or go to old shops in the small town down the road and find any that were about magic or pirates or ships and read them each evening to the little boy in the bottle. He already considered him a friend, and friends helped friends so he would help this boy just like he said.</p><p>…</p><p>Will’s uncle figured that Will had just dreamed up an imaginary friend because there were no other kids in the area that were his age but he thought that if it kept Will occupied and happy then it would be alright for the young boy to read quietly to this imaginary friend and pretend to be on a pirate ship together, kids had great imaginations and that should be encouraged.</p><p>But then one night while they were sleeping someone broke into the house and ransacked the lower part of the house, the study and living room had books thrown everywhere and pages torn and strewn all over the floor, there were upturned chairs and tables as well as fallen paintings from the wall.</p><p>Will’s uncle had warned Will to stay in his room while he called the police and by the time they arrived the intruder was gone.</p><p>It took a while to find out what exactly had been taken, there were books and artwork missing that could possibly be worth something, but what devastated Will the most was that the bottle was gone, and with it his tiny friend.</p><p>
  <em>Who would do such a thing? Did they know it was magic?</em>
</p><p>Did they know that his friend was stuck inside on that ship? Will went back to his room and cried himself to sleep thinking of the friend that was stolen from him and the promise that he’d never be able to keep.</p><p>…</p><p>When Will’s mother came to pick him up from his uncle’s a couple days later he was still feeling upset about what had happened. When his mother asked what was wrong his uncle explained that there had been a break-in and that someone had stolen many things and ruined some of the books that Will had gotten while staying there and among the stolen items was the ship in a bottle that Will had really liked.</p><p>Will’s mom had promised to get him a new one from the gift shop on their way home but Will didn’t want a new one, a new one wouldn’t have his friend inside. A new one wouldn’t be magical. A new one wouldn’t help him keep his promise.</p><p>Will just shook his head and followed his mother to the car without a word; he was deeply saddened by the loss of the boy on the boat.</p>
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